Kukla's Korner Hockey

• Fourteen years ago today, Manon Rheume made sports history by being the first women to play in one of the four major sports leagues in the United States. She goaltended for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League in a pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues.

• Lightning CEO Tom Wilson said he is thrilled the team maintained season-ticket sales equal to last season's 14,500, including partials. Still, in what he called "a relatively new (hockey) market," three straight playoff seasons aren't enough.
"I think there's a feeling that another year, two years, you're creating lifetime hockey fans," Wilson said. "We made a big dent in that aspiration when we won the Cup, and we reinforced it by making the playoffs again. You do it four, five years in a row, that's what you need, so there is a lot of pressure for us to continue to do well."

• (Bryan) Murray said he expects that there won't be nearly as many penalty calls early in the season because many of the players have adjusted to the officiating standard. "I think we all complained about it when it started because that's our job to criticize. But I really believe the players made the adjustment and they're feeling good about the direction the game has taken," said Murray.